Staff received the cards just in time for the holidaysin recognition for their work over the past year.

The approach for the 2016 Topps Employee Ichiro cards is similar to that of the Kris Bryant cards last year. Four different cards were made. Each is numbered to 25 copies. Staff members received one of the cards, not all four.

The designs go back to the early days of Topps baseball with the future Hall of Famer featured on cards based on the 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1955 sets. Last year, all four Kris Bryant cards used the 1990 Topps design but with four different photos.

A collector for much of his life, Ryan focuses primarily on building sets, Montreal Expos and interesting cards. He's also got one of the most comprehensive collections of John Jaha cards in existence (not that there are a lot of them). Got a question, story idea or want to get in touch? You can reach him by email and through Twitter @tradercracks.